Perry Mason: The Ninth and Final Season, Vol. 2

The Cherry On Top Of The Sundae
Perry Mason was notified that it would not be renewed for a tenth season, on November 15, 1965, about halfway through the 9th season's filming. But unlike, say, CBS's Rawhide, which was abruptly canceled that same fall, Perry Mason was allowed to complete the season and film a full 30 episodes. So, many of these episodes in season 9 volume two, have a nice touch, giving the writers, actors, and producers a chance to leave the viewer in good stead. There is some great comedy in this volume, like Victor Buono's broad manipulations as the mastermind of inept adolescent thieves, in color, in The Case Of The Twice Told Twist; his slow burns while pondering the fools around him is his best appearance in the series. Raymond Burr gets to play Perry Mason and a drunken sailor in The Case Of The Dead Ringer. While actors playing their evil doubles is often cited as the point when a series jumps the shark, Burr plays the two opposites with such relish that it is a treat to see. Perry Mason wraps...

A Bittersweet Farewell
Perry Mason, volume two is finally available for preorder. The final series of Perry Mason is now complete. Be a part of TV history. Loyal fans of the series will cherish the last fifteen episodes. A hint of nostalgia will be felt by many of us after watching the final episode.

"The Case of the Midnight Howler," the opening title, is one of my favorite episodes in volume two. It is a riveting start to a series finale. The atmosphere in this episode always grabs me, every time I see it, and keeps me engrossed. In "The Case of the Crafty Kidnapper," two of Hollywood's greatest actors, Cloris Leachman and Gary Collins appear in solid performances.

All in all, Perry Mason, volume two is a bittersweet send off to a one-of-a-kind detective series, a series that will transport us back to a simpler, more entertaining time in TV history. Highly recommended.

All fifteen episodes in volume two are listed below:

Episode 1:
"The Case of the...

Fitting 20th Anniversary Tribute to Raymond Burr
September 12th 2013 will mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Raymond Burr, so it is entirely apposite that the last of the Perry Mason box sets will have been brought out to coincide with that date. Throughout the DVD release programme, one of the highlights has been the pristine quality of the prints (possibly accounting for the fairly high price of the sets). But in the final analysis we now have a superb complete record of one of the most successful of all American TV series, and people who 'grew up with' the show will surely not begrudge the fact that the project is now completed and can be sampled at leisure.

With regard to this final season, a special mention should be made of Richard Anderson, who joined the cast as Lieutenant Steve Drumm. This fine actor, such a familiar star and guest-star in TV series from the 1960s onwards, always offered a thoughtful, dignified and serious presence in all his appearances, yet has never really received full credit for his...

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Perry Mason: Complete Series Pack

This is Not a Boxed Set!
For shame CBS/Paramount - and Amazon. This is NOT a "boxed set" - as it is clearly labeled in the PRODUCT DETAILS, FORMAT SECTION. And I will be returning this item unopened for a full refund.

This item is simply a shrink-wrapped collection of all the individual previous season releases. The first two seasons (4 volumes) are even boxed differently (exactly as they were originally released) and differ from the remaining seasons 3 - 9 which are packaged in narrower DVD boxes.

Worse, they have shrink-wrapped these DVDs in such a way you can't even read the details of even a single season to answer common questions such as format, language, running-time, or whether or not there is closed-captioning/subtitles.

According to the "official" www.cbsstore.com site, closed captioning or subtitles - they use both terms at the site - do not appear as a feature until Season 5, Volume 2.

I was hoping this "boxed set" would have finally rectified that...

Setting your expectations... Great fun, but not Great Art
Wonderful to see these old shows again.

To set some expectations...

Not a boxed set. The individually shrink-wrapped season packs are banded into one giant bundle and shrink-wrapped overall. (A lot of work to get it all unwrapped.)

Doesn't appear to include the bonus material that is part of the 4-disc "50th Anniversary Edition" sampler package. (The Anniversary Edition is inexpensive - and well worth buying for the test scenes alone. The contrast between William Hopper and Raymond Burr, each testing as Perry Mason is very interesting. Burr had already completely worked out the subtle character of Perry Mason. Burr as Hamilton Burger just didn't have the edge. No tests of Barbara Hale or William Tallman.)

The order of the episodes on the discs is apparently the order in which the episodes were filmed, which does not always match the order of first broadcast given in the IMDB and in the Wikipedia episode list. This explains why sometimes the...

When is Warner going to release the movies?
This set is all of the DVDs from all the season's 1-9, which were terrific but this is the same as all the single releases! When are you going to release all the made for television movies that were Perry Mason?

Raymond Burr was a great actor and without using foul language keep people engaged and coming back for more....

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